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made waves in late March when its Taco Bell restaurant chain started serving breakfast -- waffle tacos specifically -- in an effort to take a bite out of morning meal dominance. In a call following McDonald's first quarter earnings report Tuesday morning, CEO Don Thompson shot down the notion that newcomers could beat Mickey D's at a game it has been playing for 30 years. When asked about Taco Bell specifically Thompson pointed out that "every year it seems like someone new has made a run [at breakfast]," obliquely referencing a "taco shop" and emphasizing that McDonald's makes its breakfast fresh.

Thanks to China, however, Yum shareholders don't seem too worried about what the fast food bigwig thinks. (McDonald's finished the trading day in the red at $99.32.)

Yum— which operates Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut — reported $2.7 billion in first quarter revenue Tuesday afternoon, up 7% from the same period last year but short of Wall Street analysts' expectations. Net income came in at $399 million, ahead of analysts' $389 million consensus estimate. Earnings per share were 87 cents, 4 cents ahead of consensus.

After an up day, shares of Yum popped about 3.7% in after hours trading to $80.35. If share open at this level Wednesday the stock will hit a new 52-week high.

“Yum! Brands is clearly on its way to a strong bounce-back year," said CEO David Novak. "Looking ahead, we have significant building blocks in place in China and each of our divisions to drive sales and profit growth this year and beyond." China accounted for more than half of Yum's first quarter revenue bringing in $1.4 billion. Operating profit for the company's China division were up 85% to $285 million. Same store sales were up 9% in China and the company plans to open at least 700 new restaurants there this year.

Novak added, "Outside of China, we’re on our way to opening a record 1,250 new international units this year. These new units further strengthen our lead in emerging markets where we continue to have positive momentum." As of the end of last year Yum had 58 restaurants per million people in the United Stated but only 2 restaurant per million people in the top ten emerging markets.

At home, however, results were disappointing. Same restaurant sales were down 3% at U.S. KFCs, 5% at U.S. Pizza Huts and 1% at Taco Bells. Novak said, results "were impacted by unusually severe weather. We have confidence in our plans to drive balance of year improvement and are particularly pleased with the initial results of our recent Taco Bell breakfast launch." The breakfast impact will be reflected in Yum's second quarter earnings results.